Sirius Minerals completes coring at Yorkshire project

27th Oct 2011 08:59

Sirius Minerals, the potash company which is developing a mine in a national park in North Yorkshire, saw its share price rise after it successfully completed the coring of its first borehole at the York Potash Project. The hole has delivered one of the world's single thickest potash intersections ever reported. Chris Fraser, Managing Director and CEO of Sirius Minerals, said: "Although preliminary, these are fantastic results for Sirius. The confirmation of all three seams in exceptional thicknesses is a validation of the world-class status of the project. "We are all looking forward to the completion of the chemical assays to confirm the grade of these potash zones. Of particular excitement is the 19 metre thickness of massive polyhalite. This compares very favourably to the 5 metre thickness assumption used in the previously announced exploration target."The drilling programme, which is being conducted with two rigs, has produced the first new surface potash borehole for almost 35 years in North Yorkshire and is the first ever hole to target the extraordinary polyhalite potential contained within the York Potash Project. Sirius did experience some unexpected delays during the drilling process, but was keen to emphasise that each of these delays delivered valuable information and lessons to enable a more accurate planning of the future drilling programme and logistical requirements. The firm added: "The drilling team has learnt valuable lessons about the local geology from the first hole and are now in a much stronger position to execute the drilling programme with increased efficiency."The share price rose 14.58% to 13.75p by 09:12.NR